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Dead to Rights - Lucky
me! I had scheduled an appointment with Namco prior to E3 to
get a personal look at Dead to Rights. This X-box gem is
awesome! Everything about the game is top notch... the story
of Jack Slate, a cop who has been setup. Not original, but it is
presented well and the dialog, intense action are all excellent.
'Jack' even has a K9 unit you can use to explore unreachable areas
and to disarm baddies. The K9 brings back their weapon for you
to use! You accumulate a meter that allows you to do Matrix
style bullet time jumps, allowing you to take on a lot of enemies at
once. You can also use bad guys as human shields while you
waste targets further away. This game is part Max Payne, Grand
Theft Auto 3, 100% violent and 100% awesome. This game is for
X-box owners only. |
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Doom III - Everybody
has heard about it by now. Doom III had the most impressive
PC graphics of any game at the show, but nothing was playable yet
and it was guarded as if it was a black ops project of the
military. The animation of creatures was unbelievable.
You have to see it to appreciate it, pictures don't do it justice.
Lighting is also extremely detailed, with dynamic shadows coming
from everything in the environment. The monsters yelled and
retreated and snarled with mucus coming out of their mouth
(reminded me of an Alien movie). The game had not been
optimized yet, as frame rates were not perfect, I guess around 40
fps. I'd be willing to bet that hardware requirements are
going to be pretty steep when this game comes out though.
This may be the game that forces a new graphics card purchase.
You'll certainly be hearing about this game in the many months to
come. With creatures, AI, environments and effects being so
detailed, I am doubting it will be ready for X-mas. The only
weakness (besides hardware requirements) I have for the game is
that it still plays like the original Doom game. Run around,
explore and shoot anything that moves... that's it. The game
play in my opinion needs an update as well. Perhaps by the
time the game is released they'll be something new.
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Lord of The Rings
- When I first saw this game, I
thought for sure it was running on a PC with a nice nVidia
graphics card. anti-alissing appears to be in use and there
are so many characters on screen swinging swords and firing arrows
that you won't believe the PS2 can handle the intense graphics.
EA was showing a sequence that was actually late in the game.
The game release date is supposed to coincide with the release of
the Twin Towers movie sometime in late November. The game
will be a little quick to beat in 15 hours, but then again, it is
an action game, and there are 3 different characters you can go
through the game with. Definitely one of the best game at
the show! |
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RAD - RAD
stands for Robot Alchemic Drive. The game is played in two parts,
on is a story telling adventure part where you chose a main
character and a robot to pilot. The story is reminiscent of
Japanese 'big monster attacks town' type of movies. The
other part is controlling and combating other Robots. The
graphics are excellent and are near movie quality (in a cartoon
sense). Somehow Enix really portrays the gargantuan size of
these robots with the way the camera angles are situated and by
the trembling of the earth when they walk around.
Controlling the robots is unique and while you are using every
button on t he PS2 control pad, it seems easy and straight
forward. I was looking forward to the X-box Robotech game,
but this game really is many paces ahead of other robot combat
games. Excellent! |
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Steel Battalions
- This X-box exclusive game was
unique in many ways. Most notably was the controller
that will be sold along with the game that is required to play the
game. Hopefully you have a nice sized coffee table to set it
on in front of your TV! The graphics on the game looked
realistic because it imitated a television set. The graphics
were not ultra sharp, and it sort of had horizontal lines and a
static look to it, but in a nice realistic way. The game
played sort of like a mech warrior game, but more simulation like
than just short everything that moves. One Capcom employee
stated that the final version of the controller would be encased
in metal... really cool, but I'm willing to bet that this package
costs a mint. Kudos for innovation though! |
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Command and Conquer
Generals - The Command and
Conquer series has gone through many transformations. The
original series is what grabbed my gaming attention for well over
a year. The many Red Alert games and Tiberian Sun games
lacked something that the original had. I am very very
pleased to see the direction of where Generals is headed.
The graphics are incredibly detailed and everything is in true 3D.
No more voxels! In game effects like tidal waves from a
destroyed dam and the famous nuke look movie quality. Nuking
the enemy base was a full screen event and blasted trees and
buildings outward from the source. Gorgeous! The game
will be optimized for the latest and greatest 3D cards, if you are
lucky enough to own one. 3 sides to play, the USA, China, and the
'Terrorist'. Each side has distinct advantages/weaknesses. |
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Gladius - Gladius
is being developed for all the console systems, and each version
is being optimized for the hardware, so expect the X-box version
to look best (multiple textures). Gladius is a
"Gladiator" (turn-based) strategy RPG. Your goal
is to please the crowds while in combat and advance from the
smaller arenas and get to "Imperia", the grand daddy of
coliseums. There are over 800 missions, although you will
unlikely see them all. Each play experience will take a
different path and therefore present different missions (good for
replay!). The game is estimated to be able to beat in around
36 hours. You can command multiple 'heroes' and there is an
emphasis on the elements.... Earth, Fire, etc with certain
attacks. The game is very rich in strategy and dialog and
looked to be a great game. Special thanks to Burke Pemberton
(asst. producer) for demonstrating the game. |
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Panzer Dragoon Orca
- Yet another reason to own an X-box.
Sega has made a gorgeous looking Panzer Dragoon game that will
certainly please the shooter fans out there. The game plays
a bit like a traditional shooting game where you move a targeting
cursor around the screen, but you also have the ability to
swivel around in 360, shooting targets behind you and to the
sides. It takes a little getting used to, but this is what
makes the game great. The Dragon you ride on flies itself
and you act as the gunner. The environments are awesome and
the enemies are everywhere. You'll probably do better as you
play, allowing you to learn what directions the enemies come from.
This game looked spit shined and near complete. Great game! |
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DOA Xtreme Beach
Volleyball - I had been by
the Sega booth and saw their Women's Volleyball game, then I saw
this. clearly this game was the most popular. All
Tecmo was showing was a repeating video sowing gorgeous shapely
ladies play beach volleyball, then cut to a cinematic where one of
the girls is dreaming, waking up with only a silk robe hanging
wide open. It was quite an eye opener! If the game
plays average, then the rest will help this game sell without a
problem. I must mention that the video had a hyper realistic
approach to the physics of the game, and every time a gal jumped
or celebrated she would 'bounce' around the screen. It was a
nice treat! This game is being developed for the X-box. |
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